Voters will choose a mayor and three Town Council members on Tuesday, Nov. 3

The Nov. 3 general election will decide the mayor’s office and three of the town’s six Town Council seats. The mayor serves a two-year term, and council members serve four-year, staggered terms, with the top three vote-getters in the council race seated in January.

Incumbent Mayor Christopher Bertaut faces a challenge from Council Member Erin Rayner. Three council seats are open following the expiration of the terms held by Rayner, Kevin Wright and Carol Luke, who did not file for reelection. Six candidates are on the council ballot.

The Race for Mayor

Christopher Bertaut, Incumbent Mayor. Bertaut has filed for reelection. He and his family moved to Purcellville in 2005 because they loved the town’s community and small-town feel, and he has worked locally in the telecommunications and IT industries for more than two decades. He was elected to the Town Council in 2020, served on the Economic Development Advisory Committee, and was vice mayor before winning the mayor’s seat. During his tenure he has been associated with a slow-growth approach, fiscal responsibility and the goals of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, and he opposed the proposed Valley Commerce Center annexation. Bertaut has said his aims include preserving the town’s character through slow growth, minimizing the burden of rates and taxes on residents, and following the citizen direction set in the Comprehensive Plan.

Erin Rayner, Council Member and Mayoral Challenger. Rayner has served on the council since January 2023 and is running for mayor. A public policy professional and consultant, she founded Erin Rayner Consulting. Born in Calgary and raised in Alaska, she earned a double degree in psychology and history from the University of Alaska Anchorage and completed graduate study in global security and international relations at Keele University in England. Her career includes work as community outreach director for then-Rep. Barbara Comstock and as executive director of the Barbara Comstock Program for Women in Leadership at George Mason University’s Schar School. A founding member of the Purcellville Main Street organization and a former Mountain View Elementary PTA president, she lives in Purcellville with her husband, Kristian, and their two daughters.

Rayner says she is running for mayor to bring “stable, balanced leadership focused on good governance and long-term planning.” Her stated priorities include strengthening public safety, protecting clean water, investing responsibly in infrastructure, and making town decisions in the open. She has centered her campaign on fiscal responsibility, transparency and preserving Purcellville’s small-town character, arguing that residents should be able to have confidence in an accountable local government.

The Race for Town Council

Three seats are open, and six candidates are running. The top three vote-getters will be seated in January.

Kevin Wright, Incumbent. Wright is seeking reelection. A lifelong Loudoun County resident with more than 50 years in Purcellville, he lives in Purcellville with his wife, Trish, and their youngest son. He began his life in public service at 14 as a volunteer with the Purcellville Volunteer Rescue Squad and spent his career with Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, retiring after more than 34 years as a deputy chief of operations. Away from town business, he coaches his son’s baseball teams, serves on the council for Special Olympics of Loudoun County, and spends his free time on carpentry, yard work, fixing things, and live music with his wife.

Mitch S. Seipt. Seipt announced his candidacy saying he wants to help the town thrive through thoughtful, transparent decision-making, and that good governance is rooted in civility, cooperation and conversation. He and his family moved to Purcellville in 2016. A former history teacher, he has served the community as a youth sports coach, election officer and Sunday School teacher, and helped create the Dad Joke Express parade float.

Paul E. McCray. McCray, a local historian, announced his candidacy saying the council needs thoughtful, responsible and respectful leadership and that he would make decisions based on what is best for the town as a whole. A frequent presence at council meetings over the past year, he spent a 51-year career in local government, including as operations director at NOVA Parks, and worked in the Town of Purcellville’s Parks and Recreation Department in 2011 and 2012.

Greg F. Paris. Paris has announced a bid for council, citing development pressure, infrastructure demands and the need to preserve the town’s small-town character. Originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania, he traces his interest in local government to a childhood fight in which neighbors organized to permanently preserve a large farm from development. He has worked in technical communications, government contracting and business development. He and his wife are raising their two children in Purcellville, where he is active in his church and enjoys reading and volunteering.

Sam H. Brown Jr. Brown is a lifelong resident whose family roots in the Loudoun Valley date to the 1760s, when Quaker families settled to farm western Loudoun County. He graduated from Loudoun Valley High School in 1966, earned a degree from Guilford College and worked nearly a decade in orchards in Michigan before returning home to farm. With his wife, Uta, he grows blackberries, apples, peaches, vegetables, pumpkins, strawberries and Christmas trees, and years ago he placed his entire 90-acre farm into conservation easement rather than develop it. He has said that once open land is lost, it is gone forever.

Hank Speckhardt Jr. Speckhardt has announced a bid for council, emphasizing small-town character, fiscal responsibility and resident-led decision-making. He grew up in a small town in upstate New York and spent more than two decades in the insurance industry, eventually owning his own agency, and now describes himself as a semi-retired entrepreneur. He moved to Purcellville to be closer to his mother, a longtime resident, after his father’s passing, saying he was drawn to a place that feels like a real community.

How and When to Vote

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting dates and locations are available through the Loudoun County Office of Elections. Residents can confirm their polling place through the Virginia Department of Elections.

Editor’s note: Some biographical information in this report was gathered from local news sources and from the candidates’ public campaign statements and announcements.